Straight Outta Sodor...

We took the boys to Day Out With Thomas today at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. It’s always a great day for little train lovers. They have train tables set up for the kids to play with, balloons, temporary tattoos, moon bounces, train rides and lots of junk food. Needless to say it’s a young boy’s ideal day. The boys spent a little time playing at the train tables until it was time for us to load up for our train ride.

The main attraction, a life-size Thomas the Tank Engine, is hooked up to a line of passenger cars and the kids get to take a ride with him. It was the highlight of my day when Bear saw Thomas for the first time. His face lit up and he screamed like William Wallace going into battle. Strangely enough the train ride is my least favorite part of the day. The expectations built from the first glance of Thomas makes the end result rather anti-climactic. Sensing a possible let-down, the parents tried admirably to get the crowd excited about a 10 mile-an-hour train ride into the depths of inner city Baltimore. No small feat. Even more entertaining was listening to the parents try to come up with creative answers to their little ones’ questions: Mommy, why are there plastic bags in the trees? Mommy, what are those colorful words on the side of the building? Mommy, why is that lady lying so still at the bottom of the bridge? Honestly, after a solid mile of graffiti-covered landscape I was glad the Bug is only just starting to read…and doesn’t know the significance of a swastika. At the end of the train ride, though, my boys were still in awe of their “ride with Thomas.” I suspect that once we take them to Disney World they’ll no longer fall for trying to pass the mildly diverting train ride off as something fun and exciting.

Events like these also provide me with an opportunity to watch people in public. Here I get wonderful ideas on what to do on outings with kids…and what NOT to do. I’m sure I display the latter on my fair share of occasions, but I made some classic observations today and felt it my duty to pass them along. In regards to the Gift Shop at this event, I strongly recommend you do NOT buy the train whistles they sell. They’re very cute, but it’s a purchase you will regret almost the instant the transaction is complete (or at the very least as soon as you get in your car with your little one and his noisemaker). Secondly (and I can’t stress the importance of this enough), don’t take your kids into the gift shop with you. While your spouse or a grandparent watches them jump themselves into giddy oblivion in the moon bounces, you sneak away to browse and perhaps pick up a trinket or two to commemorate the day. Then, instead of having to carry your angel out of the shop screaming and flailing, you get to be the wonderful mommy who magically appears with a few well chosen treats.

Now, to be honest, I have yet to figure out how to end any fun activity without tears. No matter how long we’ve stayed or how much fun we’ve had my four-year-old always cries like we’ve sentenced him to years of manual labor. Soon after the tears, though, comes the hush of children sleeping in the back seat, the sweet sound of a successful day.